1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to automated sealant applicators in general, and in particular to machine held, computer directed and controlled dispensers for performing sealant operations on workpieces.
2. Related Art
Sealant operations on workpieces are critical to ensure proper manufacture and stability of products to be assembled. One sealant operation typically includes the application of a sealing compound to a surface of a workpiece prior to final assembly or mating with another part. The sealant acts like a gasket and a corrosion barrier. Another type of sealing operation is filling or "taking up" mismatches between detail or mating parts.
Currently, the sealant is applied manually by an operator, for example with a manual pneumatically actuated applicator or handheld "sealant gun" comprised of a tube with liquid adhesive. The adhesive can be either pre-mixed or mixed as it is dispensed. The pneumatic actuation pushes the liquid adhesive from the tube. Yet other types of manual "guns" do not use pneumatic force, but instead use the physical force of a ram piston operated manually by a human.
During sealant operations, the operator first must resolve the predetermined location that the sealant is to be applied at. Then the operator has to manually dispense the sealant along a predetermined path, with a predetermined pattern, or in a crevice or mismatch with a predetermined amount of sealant with the manual sealant gun. The application of material is entirely operator dependent. Experienced operators are needed to estimate the amount of material to put on, but the amount is still not precisely measured. As such, since this process is subject to human manual interpretation, there is great room for error and inefficiency. This is because the operator can only "feel and guesstimate" the amount of sealant to dispense.
In addition, the pattern of sealant applied will never be a "true" pattern since it is subject to unsteady hands of human application. Also, typically, the operator errs to over dispense and not underdispense to ensure sufficient coverage of the adhesive. As a result, most workpieces have more sealant than is necessary. This creates enormous waste of the sealant, which is usually a very expensive resin. Thus, manual application of sealants to workpieces, such as for aircraft skins, is a time consuming, inaccurate, and wasteful process.
Therefore, what is needed is a device that eliminates the need for manual sealant operations. What is also needed is an automated device for dispensing a precise amount of sealant to reduce waste while still conforming to required engineering specifications. What is additionally needed is an automated device with an advanced vision system for accurately locating a workpiece and dispensing sealant at desired locations on that workpiece.
Whatever the merits of the above mentioned systems and methods, they do not achieve the benefits of the present invention.